


for the sake of others

by vype



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cannibalism, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-21 12:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vype/pseuds/vype
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Okay, so titan shifters can regnerate their body parts. We also have problems with food. See where I'm going with this...? (I mean they feed their body parts to their friends)"<br/>Prompt from the SNK kink meme</p>
            </blockquote>





	for the sake of others

**Author's Note:**

> de-anoning from the the kink meme: http://snkkink.dreamwidth.org/524.html?thread=919820#cmt919820

"Where did you get meat?" Sasha asks as Reiner and Bertholdt return from their patrol, eyes wide in ecstatic shock.

They don't know how long they've been trapped here after getting separated from the main formation. At least two days, possibly three. They can't get out- there are a few titans roaming the nearby area, their horses ran away, and there just weren't enough tall structures around to use the 3D Maneuvering Gear. There was a supply of rations in the abandoned fort; nobody knows exactly how old they are, and after the first hungry day nobody cared overmuch. The well in the courtyard still works. That's just about the only stroke of fortune that they've had, aside from the fact that the fort isn't too far off from most of the scouting routes.

Reiner mutters something about seeing animals outside, away from the titans gathering by the gate. Wild deer. Bertholdt shrugs and looks uncomfortable as always, gaze intently focused on his a distant point beyond the stone wall.

"You went outside?!" Armin asks incredulously. "You could have been eaten!"

Nobody misses the anxious yet resigned look that Bertholdt shoots Reiner. Except Reiner himself, really.

The fort is their only defense; 20 meter high walls, thick enough so that titans won't be coming through any time soon. Unless of course, it's an abnormal. One of the jumping ones, or a stronger one than normal.

Everyone hopes it won't come to that.

"We were careful, weren't we Bertl?" Reiner asks, dropping the meat and wiping bloody hands on his shirt. "And besides, it's better than starving to death while waiting for rescue. Might as well give hunting a shot."

"Who cares?" Sasha says excitedly. "We can finally eat real food, not that disgusting ration slop!"

"Hell yeah!" Connie agrees. "Hey, maybe we can take turns hunting if we're going to get food like this!"

Armin is shaking his head, still saying it's too dangerous even as Reiner begins slicing up the meat with his blades. Connie excitedly leaps up to scrounge around for materials to start a fire with, and Sasha is already off in her own little world fantasizing about the meal, drooling with her hands clasped over her heart.

Bertholdt, realizing he's outnumbered, sighs. "...I'll go up to the tower again," he says. "There may be a scouting team out and they might have supplies with them, or extra horses. They might see if I set off a flare."

"We'll save some for you, Bertholdt!" Connie cheerfully exclaims.

If anything, this just makes the taller man turn paler. "...All right."

-

_"Why would you do that, Reiner?" Bertholdt hisses. "There's no way possible for us to get meat, they're going to be suspicious!"_

_"It's not going to matter," Reiner says dismissively, holding his blade with his left arm and just barely placing pressure on his leg, just below the knee. He had rolled up his pants earlier, to avoid awkward blood stains and questioning. "They're hungry enough that they won't think twice. We'll just say we've been hunting."_

_Bertholdt resists the urge to gnash his teeth. "That's not the main issue here! Why are you doing this for them?"_

_"They'd starve," Reiner says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. The blade is sunk halfway into his leg by now- it's getting tougher so he places both his hands on it and presses down with all of his strength. Bertholdt can see the muscles in his upper arms bulging from the strain._

_"Why do they matter? We aren't here to make friends."_

_There's a grating sound as Reiner's blade hits bone. A sharp crack, the slightest muffled grunt of pain, and then the sword is once again steadily sinking in through the rest of his leg, tearing through muscle._

_"It'd be suspicious if only the two of us were to survive from this while the rest of them died of starvation," Reiner says. "Or if the two of us just vanished, or the rest of them disappeared."_

_"They'd probably think they were killed by titans before reaching here," Bertholdt says. "We can just toss their bodies somewhere; nobody would think to look in this fort. Reiner, we have a mission. It doesn't matter if they die or not."_

_"I think it does." Reiner pulls up his blade and proceeds to repeat on his other leg. His right one is already growing back quickly, steam rising as tendons and muscle knit back together. "Two legs should probably be enough for a small deer, wouldn't you say?"_

-

Bertholdt returns after about half an hour, a few moments before the sun begins to set, having waited for any possible response after sending out two flares. Nothing that day.

When he gets back, he sees Connie and Sasha eagerly eating. Armin had surrendered to his own hunger and is eating at a more sedate pace. His stomach turns uncomfortably, doubly so when he realizes that Reiner is eating as well.

"Bertholdt!" Connie exclaims when he gets back. "We had to hide some for you or else Sasha would have eaten your share too!"

Reiner offers him a slice, and Bertholdt has to take a moment to steady himself so he won't vomit. But it would be suspicious if he didn't take some, and though just killing the rest of them would solve that problem...

Reiner gives him a smile, and Bertholdt knows that he won't do it, because Reiner wouldn't want him to.

"Thanks," he mumbles quietly, taking the piece of his best friend's leg. He sits down, and resolves not to gag.

-

It's night.

Armin is up awake, leaning against the wall with his knees drawn up to his chest. Something about the meal that night hadn't sit right with him, and he can't figure out what. It's driving him insane as he just tries to think-

"Armin?" comes Sasha's tired voice. "You still up?"

"Yeah." Armin tilts his head back. "What about you?"

"Couldn't get comfy," she admits, stretching her arms over her head and yawning so loudly it would have rivaled even Eren roaring in his titan form. Good thing for him that Connie sleeps like the dead, and both Reiner and Bertholdt had decided to sleep in a separate room. "What about you?"

"Just thinking," he replies, casting his mind back and trying to analyze the situation, to remember a little detail that escaped him. He's probably being irrational and silly about it, maybe he's just too tense from their situation, but he can't help but think there's still something... 

"About what?"

"Dinner," he says, frowning deeply. "It just... it didn't feel right to me... Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there was just something off about it."

Sasha looks up to him, brow furrowed. "Eh, now that you mention it, it was kinda weird."

Armin perks up, looking at Sasha with a bit of surprise. "Really? How so?"

"Well, it didn't really taste like deer," Sasha admits. "I ate deer before. This tasted more like pork, or something. Maybe beef? I dunno. Just definitely not deer."

Armin frowns. "Why would they lie about hunting pigs instead of deer?"

Sasha shrugs. "They didn't see it clearly? I don't know. Maybe they were just really excited to eat something other than dusty old rations; I know I would be!"

Armin lets out a breath. "I guess that could be it. I guess we should try to get some sleep. There might be another patrol tomorrow, and we can get back to the barracks."

"Yeah, good night Armin!"

"Good night."

As he lies back down on the stone floor, Armin can't help but still be unsatisfied.

-

Bertholdt wakes up early the next morning, before the sun has even risen. Against a gray sky, he throws up everything of last night's meal.

Reiner is still asleep when he gets back to their room. Bertholdt spends a few seconds staring at him, and then gets back down, stretching out on the floor. He makes sure to put the back of his head across Reiner's thighs, turning on his side and placing a hand on top of Reiner's knee, to remind himself that Reiner's still whole and with him and that they can go back to the way everything was once they finish their mission and he won't have to worry about humans starving or Reiner doing pointless, stupid things for the sake of some humans who are just going to die anyway and-

Somehow, it isn't as comforting as it should be.

-

"We're going home!" Connie whoops energetically, lacing up his 3DMG and slotting his blades into place.

Earlier that afternoon it was Sasha's turn to check for patrols up in the tower, and they'd finally run into some good luck when a group returned their flare. There weren't even any titans around, so they'd been able to somehow get the scouting group to turn in their direction.

Sasha is currently gushing over the meals they'll be able to enjoy once they're back at HQ, and even Armin is grinning widely as the five of them make their way down to the gates of the fort.

"Glad it's finally over, isn't it?" Reiner asks Bertholdt as they descend the stairs.

"Yeah." Bertholdt doesn't quite manage to fake a smile.

"I'm eager to go back," the blond man continues. "Never thought I'd miss the brutal training they put us through."

_You saved them when you didn't have to. You gave yourself to them. You aren't going back; you're drifting away,_ Bertholdt thinks. _Don't do this to me._

"Same here," he says, forcing the corners of his mouth upwards. Reiner laughs, claps him on the shoulder, and doesn't look back as they walk onwards.


End file.
